The Californian specimen (Cat. No. 49725) was first made known in a
letter addressed to me by President Jordan, of Stanford University, under
date of October 27, 1904, inclosing one from Mr. J. H. Ring, of Ferndale,
California, dated October 23, 1904, which was as follows:
Enclosed find three views of an animal stranded on the beach near this
place [Ferndale, Humboldt County, California], and as its identity
seems rather uncertain we hope you will kindly classify it and inform
us of its true name and habitat, if possible, from the photographs and
incomplete description. Its total length is about 41 feet. Greatest
circumference 16 feet, tapering probably to 18 inches near the tail. It
also tapers toward the head, terminating in a sharp beak, the upper jaw
being about 16 and the lower 19 inches long.
On each side in the lower jaw well to the front is a conical tooth, the
crown of which is exposed one-half an inch. The head is full and
rounded, resembling that of an elephant, with depressions corresponding
to the ears, and small eyes a little ahead and below.
On top of head is a heart-shaped opening, evidently for breathing
purposes. There is also evidence of a dorsal fin, while each fork of
tail is 3½ feet or so long. The underside of the animal is too bruised
to show anything of importance. The flippers are also in bad shape, one
being buried in the sand, while the other is entirely denuded of flesh,
leaving a bony stump about 6 inches long and which moves readily in any
direction. We think it is a “bottle-nose” whale, but as some claim that
they are not to be found on this coast and do not exceed 30 feet in
length, it may be something else.
Mr. Ring was immediately communicated with, and very generously presented
to the Museum the skull of the animal, which he had secured and cleaned
with much labor and some danger to himself. He also undertook to have the
skeleton cleaned and sent to Washington, and it was received in due
course in June, 1905. Mr. Ring wrote under date of May 15, 1905:
You will notice that the point of the beak, as well as the points of
the lower jawbones, are a little damaged, some hunters having shot the
teeth out and then set a fire inside the jaws.
When received, the skeleton lacked the flippers and also two of the
teeth. Regarding the former, Mr. Ring wrote on November 18, 1905, as
follows:
I wrote you that one flipper was entirely gone and the other worn down
to a stump, as shown in the picture. I have interviewed the man who
stripped the specimen, and he says the stump was badly crushed and
broken and fears it was lost one night when the extremely high tide had
turned the whale over, and only the anchors and lashings I had secured
it with prevented its going out to sea.
This skeleton was mounted recently and placed on exhibition in the
Museum. The flippers were modeled from those of the St. George Island
specimens (which were also imperfect) and from the figures of _B.
arnuxii_ given by Flower. The end of the beak was also restored, and a
facsimile of the teeth substituted for the real ones. This remarkable
skeleton shows in a manner hitherto unapproached the great size which
this genus of ziphioid whales attains, and the peculiar conformation of
the body. While the vertebræ rival those of the large whalebone whales,
such as the Humpbacks, in their dimensions, the head is remarkable for
its small size as compared with the immense proportions of the same part
in the Right whales. (Pl. 42, fig. 4.)
Mr. Ring sent to the Museum three photographs of the Californian specimen
above mentioned, two of which are reproduced on Pl. 42, figs. 2 and 3.
Although rather indistinct, they show the general form of the body, the
peculiar bulbous head, with an indication of a neck, and the long beak.